Starter Guide

Terraria is an adventure game. It features customizable characters, randomly generated worlds, day/night cycles, reformable terrain, fun bosses, and a crafting system that allows the player to "live off the land": Crafting items that are required for survival. The crafting system gives the player the freedom to manipulate their environment by doing anything from digging mines to building towns; it is their prerogative. You are only limited by your imagination. The game also features multiplayer.

Automatically selects whatever item is appropriate for the area you have your cursor over (e.g. a pickaxe if over rock). If cursor is over empty space or out of range, It will default to whatever light source is appropriate (torches in air, glowsticks/Flare Gun in water.)

Getting started

Terraria Newbie Tutorial part 1

The very first thing you should do is build yourself a Livable Shelter. A hole in the ground will be enough if you are short on time, but if you want a proper house, just cut the Trees around you with an axe and build yourself a shack. As long as it protects you from monsters that emerge at night time, you and your Guide will be safe.

Now that you have a safe sanctuary, you will most likely want to go exploring caves. Feel free to do so. Here's a list of good things to collect:

Plants: You may find Daybloom around your spawn area, Waterleaf in deserts and Blinkroot in caves. There are also many other types of plants such as the Fire Blossom which can be found through further progression in the game. Save them up, as they're used in many useful potions.

Chests: Sometimes hiding rare accessories and loads of coins, be sure to look through them. If you're lucky enough you could find a Gold Chest, which contains even rarer items and powerful weapons, and there are Shadow Chests which are usually found in the Underworld. It is often a good idea to collect the chest with a Pickaxe, saving you crafting materials.

Fallen Star: These only appear at night, and are easily noticeable for the light they emit. They fall from the sky. 3 of these can be crafted into a Mana Crystal, which will give you +20 maximum Mana, increasing the maximum count of Mana. Mana is used to power and utilize magical weapons, but it is limited depending on the player's Mana count. The maximum Mana you can reach with Mana Crystals alone is 200 Mana points, or 10 stars without any boosting gear or armor. You can check how much Mana you have by moving your mouse over the blue stars in the top right-hand corner of your screen.

Heart Crystal: These are found mainly underground. Mining them with a pickaxe and then using them will give you an extra heart (+20 hp). The maximum amount of Health Life Crystals can bring the player to is 400 HP, or 20 hearts. You can check how many Health points you have by moving your mouse over the hearts at the top right hand corner of the screen. Using a Life Crystal will also let a Nurse join you (Provided you have a free house). Once you kill Plantera much later in the game, you can get Life Fruit that will let you increase your health to 500.

Once the day ends and nighttime begins, either get back to your shelter and hide in safety, or get ready to slay some Zombies and Demon Eyes. It is strongly suggested you look into making a bow and some arrows, as they combine for good damage and range. If you happen to get hurt, the heart count in the top right-hand corner of the screen will decrease. When it reaches 0, you will die. When you die you'll; 1. Lose half of the money you have on you (Softcore), 2. Drop your whole inventory (Mediumcore), or 3. Turn into a ghost, and your character will be deleted (Hardcore). To prevent this, you will need to eat food (such as Mushrooms or Goldfish) or use some potions. To do this, simply have the edible item you wish to eat in the item bar at the top, click on it, then click anywhere on the background, and your characters' Health will be slightly refilled. A faster and easier way to heal is by clicking the "H" key, AND (more conveniently) the food doesn't necessarily need to be on your hotbar. You can also refill your Health using Potions which can be made using an Alchemy Station. Another way to avoid dying is by hitting the Escape key and clicking Save and Exit before you die (this is easier if you have autopause on). You can refill your Health instantly (for a fee) if you have access to a Nurse. It's now up to you to discover the rest. Who knows what you will find in this mysterious world? If you happen to have any questions, look them up in the FAQ below. If you have any remaining questions, feel free to ask them in this thread. Good ones can be added to the FAQ. If you have a Grappling Hook you can quick use it by pressing the E button and aim it with your mouse, the hook just needs to be in your inventory.

Tips for progressing into the game

Your starting equipment will include a Copper Pickaxe, a Copper Axe and a Copper Shortsword. The latter is barely decent for killing weak enemies such as Slimes, so it is advisable to craft a higher tier Broadsword as soon as possible, as their wide swing arc makes them more reliable for melee combat.

Items that can be combined for crafting will show "Material" when moused over. If you're unsure about what to do with an item, show it to the Guide.

A House is made by having a room that has blocks around it. At least 6x6, but can vary in size. Must have background walls, a Torch, flat surface, and a Chair, to start off with to be considered suitable housing allowing an NPC to move in.

Be sure to build a properly-defended base: placing background walls will prevent monsters from spawning inside, and having NPCs join you will also reduce the spawn rate of enemies nearby. Most NPCs will join you when you do certain feats (such as finding explosives or having a certain wealth), while you might stumble upon some others while exploring underground.

If you can't handle night-time monsters, dig down from your shelter to make a mineshaft and dig for ores and treasures. Remember however to bring Torches to light the way and platforms to get back to the surface, and beware the monsters that inhabit the lower layers. And don't forget that if you release water, it will extinguish your torches, so place more than one.

Beware of Blood Moon nights: monsters will spawn in thick ranks and storm your base, so make sure to set up proper defenses to keep them at bay.The simplest way is to dig pits and moats deep enough to prevent Zombies from jumping out. If you have a problem with Zombies breaking through your doors, simply put a block beside the Door, Zombies then can not break the door down: as you gather different materials you'll be able to set up more complex (and deadly) contraptions.

Wearing three pieces of armor of the same material (for example Copper Greaves + Armor + Helmet) will provide several bonuses, the most notable of which is an increase of overall defense.